54,000 still getting pay held over student debt, filing says

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The U.S. Education Department was still garnishing the wages of more than 50,000 workers who had fallen behind on their student loans more than a month after Congress ordered the suspension of the practice during the pandemic, a court filing shows.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room, Friday, March 27, 2020, in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence listens.

The finding, which included the number of garnishments as of last week, was part of a court-ordered update jointly filed by the Education Department and by a home health aide leading aagainst the agency. The aide, Elizabeth Barber, says the department has illegally docked her pay multiple times since Congress approved a March 27 rescue package ordering a pause on involuntary collections.

Barber filed the suit with support from consumer and student advocacy groups, including Student Defense, a Washington nonprofit. The group said Monday’s filing proves that borrowers are having their wages illegally seized six weeks after Congress’ package took effect. Federal law authorizes the Education Department to garnish up to 15% of workers’ paychecks without a court order if they go into default on federal student loan payments. The agency can issue garnishment orders to employers and contracts with private agencies to enforce collection. Last year, the department garnished $842 million from workers, according to federal data.

 

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Cancel Student Loans. Save the Economy. HELP WITH THIS PETITION? A quarter million signatures so far... studentloanjustice

Biggest mistake I ever made was to get a student loan.

GOP OVERSIGHT: Oxymoron

BetsyDeVosED doing her usual stellar work.

Screw the Department of Education. Screw Obama for making it the govt’s responsibility to give out loans instead of banks.

The employers garnished the wages, not the government fuckwads. Liberals are mentally ill.

It’s

Let's put government in charge of more stuff

CyrusToulabi One of 2 things is true about BetsyDeVosED. She is either the most incompetent secretary ever, or has absolutely ZERO respect for American democracy. I must correct myself, both could be true.

djrothkopf This is criminal.

Shame. But it's the AmericanWay.

that is what happens when you borrow money.

OF COURSE THEY WERE...UNCONSCIONABLE

What if they still want to pay? Is it mandatory to take the government cheese?

Betsy Dogface DeVos BetsyDeVosED is a special kind of pure evil. And she has a serious lack of intelligence. Great choice realDonaldTrump

I paid mine off even though the government had said I didn’t need to. So much for believing the government.

Arrest them.

The employers are docking, not the department of education. I

A massive government bureaucracy is inefficient and unable to adjust quickly? You don’t say.

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